The leaders of the G20 will meet on 30 November and 1 December in Buenos Aires for their annual summit. They need to acknowledge that the last two years have been characterised by strong headwinds for the world economy . This time, however, it is not a mixture of poor macroeconomic policies and bad...

WTO members are debating how to resolve long-standing disagreements over agricultural export restrictions and their impact on humanitarian food aid, sources told Bridges, with the issue taking centre stage during an informal meeting convened on 15 November by the chair of the organisation’s...

There is a need to introduce some flexibility into global trade policies and institutions given the current trade tensions, anti-globalisation sentiments, and the large number of countries that participate in WTO negotiations. Large food net importers and large food net exporters have common and...

On its seventieth anniversary, the multilateral trading system faces heightened risk and policy uncertainty . In the face of these risks, G20 leaders have a historic responsibility to preserve the gains derived from global economic integration, including increased living standards and productivity...

The EU’s incoming rules on cadmium in chocolate and other foodstuffs again drew scrutiny from some developing country WTO members at a meeting of the organisation’s Committee on Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) Measures on 1-2 November, trade sources say. The regulation takes effect in less than...

Thirteen international trade ministers gathered in Ottawa on 24-25 October to issue a call for action to strengthen the World Trade Organization (WTO), with officials weighing options for modernising the global trade club by way of updating its negotiation process, improving its dispute settlement...

A meeting of over a dozen trade ministers is underway in Ottawa, Canada, this week, with participants set to weigh possible ideas for updating the WTO that they can then bring back to discussions with the rest of the global trade club. The 24-25 October event began with an opening reception and...

Australia has been accepted as member of the WTO’s plurilateral Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), capping three years of negotiations with existing parties to join the accord. The Oceanic nation’s bid was endorsed by GPA parties last week, with Canberra now due to complete its domestic...

The preparations for Brexit have been a top-line agenda item for trade negotiators in Geneva, with the subject of how to divvy up EU and UK tariff-rate quotas being one of the main items for review at a meeting of the WTO’s Market Access Committee last week. Sources expect the process to require...